I know that student government voted on legislation for the consideration to remove Chick-fil-A on campus and that it was later vetoed by the student body president. The ultimate decision lies with Leo Lambert and the panel formed to research the issue. Elon has a duty, a dharma to address this issue in a major way.
For not only is the nation watching (due to recent publications,) including alumni, but parents of prospective students and most importantly prospective students like myself who left home in a pursuit of a greater education at a university that told us we belonged.
There have been a string of news articles, which discussed Elon’s contemplation over whether to remove Chick-fil-a from Elon’s campus. Elon, for the most part, has been portrayed positively in the media, but the wrong decision could damage the University’s reputation. Much of Elon’s future initiatives depend on alumni like myself donating to the university. I know myself and many others have decided not to financially support the university while this issue is ongoing.
I spent four amazing years at Elon, and I hate to think that even an inkling of those experiences have been tainted. But I would be untruthful if I said this pending decision would not put a haze over those memories. I was raised to stand up for what I believe, as righteousness was inherited from my grandfather who marched with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He fought for his country though treated as a second class citizen. He taught me that as long as one man suffers no man should claim victory.
The families of prospective students must be taken into consideration. Today, in 2012, the gay community is no longer limited to those who identify as members of the LGBTQ community, but their loved ones too. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and the list of extended family goes on. They too have their eyes on this issue. There are also gay parents who wonder how their children will be received. An alignment with Chick-fil-A sends the message that their children or loved ones will not be accepted.
Mary Griffith, the mother of Bobby Griffith, who took his own life after coming out to his family and friends, put it best when she said, “ There are children like Bobby sitting in your congregations. Unknown to you, they will be listening as you echo Amen, and that will soon silence their prayers. Their prayers to God for understanding, and acceptance, and for your love. But your hatred and your fear and ignorance of the word gay will silence those prayers. So before you echo Amen in your home and place of worship, think; think and remember a child is listening.”
Lastly, prospective students must be considered; after all, they are the future of the university. Just as Elon accepts, nurtures, and protects the plants in its botanical garden, it must also protect all of its students. While in many cases no one is physically turning us away or inflicting bodily harm, our wounds are all the more deafening because they silently eat away at us, eroding our souls. It is a pain I will never forget.
For a long time it was unending, and from time to time its remnants linger, tingling in my fingertips reminding me I have survived. It took a lot of courage to be brave enough to stand up and be the individual that I am today because everyone is not so courageous. Maya Angelou summed up human nature best when she said, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
Elon's curriculum centers around experiential learning, yet many of its students are blind to the experiences of others. Elon should not risk a chance to put their diversity promises and displays of experiential learning to use. There is no study abroad, winter term or semester in the gay experience. It is a lived, learned struggle. I challenge everyone who may read this letter to imagine their sister, their brother, their loved ones and imagine they are gay. Picture them harboring parts of their lives in closets, in pain, confused and hurt. One decision suddenly becomes larger, bigger than ourselves, rippling far further than we can fathom.
David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas, brilliantly wrote that, “Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present. And by each crime, and every kindness, we birth our future.”
Sincerely,
Cameron Jackson
Elon Class of 2011